This invention relates to a golf practice mat, and particularly to a golf practice mat having shock-absorption features for minimizing ground reaction forces onto the golfer's hands and arms.
Golf practice mats are already known in the prior art.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,348,847, to Frederick Fischl, shows a golf practice mat having a simulated divot that allows the golf club head to continue down into the mat after striking the golf ball.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,443,870, to Lewis Lurie and James W. Lyman discloses a golf mat having an upwardly bulged hill that allows the golfer to practice side hill shots, uphill shots, or downhill shots.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,497,853, to Seymour A. Tomarin, shows a golf mat that includes a simulated grass upper layer having a sand filler, a water barrier sheet, and a springy fibre base layer.
The present invention relates to a golf practice mat that includes a base pad formed of a resilient compressible material, e.g. plastic foam, and an artificial grass carpet slidably positioned on the pad upper surface, whereby the grass carpet shifts along the pad when struck by a golf club during a practice golf swing.
The golf practice mat of this invention has shock-absorbing features that produce essentially the same feeling as hitting the golf ball off soft bent grass fairway turf. The mat has been developed to produce good ball contact while avoiding club head bounce off a hard mat surface. An advantageous effect is to minimize potential pain and/or injury to the golfer's hands or arms, resulting from jarring contact between the golf club head and the mat surface.